Frayed
by pikachucutie17
Summary: The zombie apocalypse strikes and, for once, the turtles cannot find a way to stop it. In the midst of the chaos, Donatello is seemingly killed. A series of drabbles of how this separated family survives the guilt of escaping and the uncertainty of their future.
1. Dawn of a New Day

_The prompt for this one was reunion after a zombie apocalypse. I might add more to this AU down the road, but enjoy the snippets I have here in the meantime! Feel free to send me story ideas for this one and we'll see what I think fits into the storyline._

* * *

The old truck sputtered and no longer responded to Raphael's foot against the accelerator. He cursed loudly as momentum no longer carried the tires along the cracked pavement of the city. Stepping out and slamming the door behind him, Raph kicked the vehicle. April wouldn't be happy about the dent.

"'It'll be enough gas' Casey says. I swear, if I have to walk all the way back to the farmhouse, I'm going to…" Raph paused his tirade midway through at the sight of a manhole cover. He averted his eyes, reliving the moment he failed his brother.

The army had dumped them into the sewers to try to keep the populace of New York somewhat safer until everyone could evacuate. Zombies swarmed the lair, forcing everyone to make a run for it. Donnie fell behind, trying to keep them at bay with his bo staff so his family wouldn't get bitten. Raph was the last to climb the escape ladder. He reached down for Donnie, screaming for him to hurry up. Out of the masses, one managed to slip past Donnie's bo and bite his wrist. He panicked and they clawed at him, toppling the turtle flat on his shell.

Raph couldn't remember the moments afterwards. He only recalled screaming his throat raw, being held back by Leo, and throwing a punch at Master Splinter when he tried to calm his son down. Raph later woke up in the deathly silent Party Wagon, far outside the city limits. He never spoke of the incident since then.

Turning his gaze to the sky, Raph awakened to the reality that had recently passed. Some scientists from the Earth Protection Force had made a miraculous breakthrough in creating a vaccine to the virus. Once it was distributed, they enforced mandatory army recruitment, gathering any person who could aim a gun to fight the zombies. Sweeping across the nation took longer than they promised, but the world was slowly growing more steady and sane by the day.

Descending into the sewer, Raph held his breath expecting an assault of death. Surprisingly, no such smell came. There wasn't a body in sight, not even a limb floating in the sewage water.

"The EPF cleaning up the underground too?" Raph commented aloud. He trodded along, shoving his hands in the worn jacket he borrowed from the farmhouse attic. The walls almost closed in around him. Even though these tunnels were his home for so many years, he had grown used to the open space of Northampton. Too much time had passed.

Raph didn't even know his reason for coming back. His word to Casey was to see if the lair was safe to live in again. Casey knew there was more to his visit than that, but he said nothing on it. Maybe Raph wanted proof that Donnie was really gone. He never truly believed he was killed. His brother nearly blew himself up in his lab more times than he could count. Death by zombies just didn't seem right.

Finally approaching the lair, Raph sucked in a breath. A noise carried down the tunnel. Drawing his sai, he inched closer to the turnstiles. He could make out a voice giving a warning. Something about an alarm. Did the intruder figure out how to use the proximity alert?

It didn't matter. They were trespassing on his old home and they had no place there. Figuring that stealth was no longer an option, Raph sprinted, itching to butt heads with something other than a stumbling, groaning zombie.

With a roar, he leaped over the turnstiles and aimed his weapons at the person waiting at the edge of the pit. The woman's small sword clashed with his weapons before her golden eyes widened in recognition.

"Raphael?" she exhaled. Raph's eyes narrowed. Who was she? The woman pushed his weight away and sheathed her weapon. He straightened his back, seeing she would not fight, but held tight to his sai. She smirked.

"Long time no see." She placed a hand on her hip and called to the other room, "False alarm. It's for you."

That voice… Is it…

"Wait, Karai?" Raph realized before a familiar clatter interrupted his revelation. He turned to the noise and his world shifted.

There, standing in the doorway of the lab, was Donatello. Alive. His bo fallen to the floor, Donnie uneasily raised a hand, reaching for his brother as if trying to grasp his very presence.

"R-raph? Is it really you?" he asked quietly, afraid of shattering the moment. Raph took in the sight of his brother. Scars trailed up and down his body. Donnie's eyes mourned for the lost time between them. Part of his spirit had broken. Donnie hesitated in stepping forward, as if afraid of raising his hopes over a hallucination.

Without a word, Raph dropped his sai. He crossed the distance between them in a flash and slammed his fist into his brother's stomach. Donnie fell flat on his shell, a confused expression taking over after the initial pain subsided. Karai opened her mouth to tell Raph off, but stopped. His shoulders were shaking.

"Damn you! Do you have any idea what it's been like without you? Splinter nearly wasted away he ate hardly anything. April cried almost every night for months. Leo ran off to the woods for weeks. Casey can hardly fix anything without breaking something else over you not being there to help."

His voice caught in his throat.

"Mikey… he didn't smile for a long time…"

The tears stained his mask.

"Why didn't you come find us if you survived?"

Donnie watched Raph's expression grow vulnerable, the raw pain contorting him. He pushed himself off the floor, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around his brother's shoulders. Raph's hands shot up to cling to his brother's shell, the grooves etching into the tips of his fingers. They held tightly to each other for a long, quiet moment, save for the stifled choking noises.

"All it took was a smoke bomb. After I didn't become a mindless zombie, I tried to sneak out of the city, but the EPF caught me. The only reason they didn't kill me was because I told them I was immune to the virus, probably because of the mutagen that created us. They locked me away for experiments, even after they found the vaccine. Karai overheard some soldiers talking about me and she broke me out. Once I was in better health, we tried to leave, but got swarmed and barely made it back here," Donnie explained, his voice hushed. He shut his eyes at the memories of the laboratory, devoid of any night sky or air that didn't reek of medicine. The lab coats hovered over him in brief periods of consciousness. He could feel Raph's fury brimming, wanting to track down the people that had kept them apart for so long.

"After that mishap, I figured one of you would get sentimental and come here sooner or later. Besides, cleaning up all the bodies wasn't the worst way to pass the time. It made this place feel more cozy than Shredder's old lair," Karai added casually, passing by the both of them to enter the dojo. "I'll be in here if you need me. Don't start a fight again or I'll finish it for you." Donnie sent a grateful smile her way. Karai patted his shoulder firmly.

They remained there for another several minutes. Raph was the first to loosen his grip, stepping back the slightest bit. He stared hard at his brother's face, relearning every detail he had ever forgotten. His regret remained, but it lessened slightly. He would work on that later.

"If you ever do that to me again I'll kill you," Raph hissed.

"I wouldn't blame you," Donnie chuckled.

"I love you brother."

"I love you too."


	2. Panic Attack

_The prompt for this one was "panic", so of course I decided to be cruel and pick on the baby of the family._

* * *

They were everywhere. Though they stumbled over each other and moved slower than a glitching video game character, their numbers were astronomical. Mikey had faced worse odds before, but there was only so much he could do to fight off hundreds of biting zombies with a normally short-range weapon.

"Why can't these be the zombies that need to hear you to find you? Brain Busters III had the right idea," Mikey quipped as he dashed through the tunnels with his family.

When the infection had spread, the military enacted a plan. To try to save as many New Yorkers as possible, soldiers set up various traps into older buildings with underground floors. The bombs they used blew holes right through the concrete and into the mazes of the sewers. When Splinter's keen ears caught the sound of groaning and multitudes of feet scraping the ground, they knew they had to flee.

Casey suggested taking the Party Wagon, which Mr. O'Neil was kind enough to leave parked by his apartment before he left for a business trip. The recent outbreak prevented his return to the increasingly overrun city. Ideally, the Shellraiser's bulk would be better for plowing through the rotting masses. Unfortunately, Donnie quickly realized the route to get subway car onto the street was where the zombies were pouring in from.

With Splinter listening to every possible path, they managed to avoid most of them. Leo kept them at bay with his swords. Mikey utilized his kusarigama to sweep his blades across the knees and leave them mostly incapacitated. Nothing seemed to deter them. A clean stroke of the sword across the neck left a head rolling. Its jaws gnashed at Mikey's ankles, nearly catching his wrappings in its teeth. The turtle squealed and hopped over to his brother's side.

"Why is one more block so far away?" he whined.

"We're almost there," Leo said firmly. "We just have to-"

"There's a huge horde turning the corner behind us! Maybe we could move a little faster!" Donnie whispered loudly, unsheathing his naginata.

The rumbling echoed across the wall. Mikey rubbed at his exposed arms. He wished Donnie had had more time to put together some kind of anti-zombie shield for his skin. Retreating slightly into his shell, Mikey already felt the suffocating mountain of limbs clawing at him. He would be nothing more than a tasty afternoon snack and every bite would send the infection raging through his blood.

A tapping against the back of his shell reminded him to keep moving. Mikey let out a breath and straightened the cooler strapped to him.

"Stay in there, Ice Cream Kitty. I won't let them have your creamy goodness," the turtle said, trying to keep his voice from shaking. Mikey lifted his head to his sensei. The rat's ears twitched and his eyes grew tense.

"We are too enclosed down here. The streets are our only option for the remaining distance," Splinter decided. "This way."

From behind, Mikey could hear April attempting to soothe Casey's whimpering sister, who clung tightly to her older brother's back. Raph chanted that she keep her eyes closed, no matter what. She was too young to be witnessing this nightmare.

Rounding another corner, Mikey spotted a ladder leading up the wall to a manhole cover.

"A manhole! We're saved!" he blurted.

His voice carried down the end of the tunnel. The rumble of moans echoed back.

The zombies were closing in from every direction now.

"I-I'm sorry! Go the other way, zombies!" Mikey sputtered, unable to retract his words. He clamped his hands over his mouth, biting down on his loose tongue.

"There's no time, Mikey! Just climb!" Leo hissed, pointing a sword after Splinter. Mikey ducked past his brother and rushed up the rusted ladder. Blinking at the afternoon sun, Mikey made out Splinter clearing away stumbling zombies. With more room to maneuver, the grandmaster did away with them easily. Turning back to the hole, the turtle dropped down his chain.

"Grab on, Casey! I'll give you and Angel a lift!"

Casey snatched the chain in his hands and Mikey _pulled_ with all of his might. The lanky boy propelled himself by scuffling his feet against the ladder rungs. The instant he was out, he let go to allow Mikey to drop the chain to April next. She rose much faster without a child on her back.

"Come on, the van's this way!" she declared, tessen pointing the way.

"Michelangelo, go with them! I will follow with your brothers," Splinter ordered. He neatly dodged a lunging set of teeth and sent the monster flying in the opposite direction.

"You got it" Mikey responded, his throat tightening. He turned away from the manhole the moment he saw the blue of Leo's mask.

The small group sprinted down the street, the yellow of the Party Wagon standing out among the grey skins of the walking corpses. Few zombies stood in their way, but each one that got just too close to Angel made Mikey's heart skip a beat. Casey's chewed up hockey stick made short work of them.

Finally making it to their escape vehicle, a roar rolled through the street, then cut out suddenly. Mikey felt his heart sink.

It was Raph. He only made _that_ sound when something went wrong.

April gritted her teeth and jammed the keys into the keyhole, cursing under her breath. Throwing the door open, she crawled into the passenger's seat and unlocked the other doors. Casey heaved the now sobbing Angel onto April's lap and started the engine. Mikey jumped in the back and slammed the door between him and a zombie's face. He set down the cooler. The vehicle rumbled and Casey slammed on the gas pedals.

"Pleasepleasepleaseplease," Mikey begged to any higher power he could imagine.

Over the dashboard, he squinted his eyes past the few remaining zombies. His lips broke out into a smile.

"There's Raph! And…"

Raph was unconscious in Splinter's arms. His father and Leo's expressions were twisted in pain.

"Where's Donnie?" Mikey and April cried out at the same instant.

The Party Wagon halted to allow the remaining Hamatos into the back.

"Go," Leo said stonily, his expression dark.

"What about-"

" _Go!_ "

Casey didn't argue.

Mikey did. He asked over and over where Donnie was and why Raph was out cold. He stood in the shaky vehicle, glaring down at his father. Splinter managed a weak answer.

"Raphael… attempted to attack me when Donatello was overwhelmed in the sewer." His head hung low, ears pressed against his head. Splinter looked small.

"No! Stop lying, Splinter! Tell me where Donnie's hiding! He's too smart to get bitten, he can outsmart anything. Just tell me," he shook his head.

When Splinter said nothing, Mikey turned to his remaining brother. Leo's forlorn eyes met his. Mikey's breath halted in his throat. The space of the van pressed hard on him and shattered, the shards cutting deep. The youngest turtle collapsed into his brother's arms shaking and hiccuping.

"He can't be… Donnie just can't…"

Two children sobbed openly, even more wept quietly. They fell silent after a time, listless even when Raph came to.

Mikey's heart no longer hammered. For how could a shattered heart continue to beat?


End file.
